London, Dec. 4: Oxford’s last remaining women’s college, St Hilda’s, yesterday voted to preserve more than a century of tradition and retain its status as a single-sex college.

The decision to remain women-only was confirmed when the college’s governing body, comprising 33 fellows, decided against admitting men by a margin of only two votes.

The ballot, the second to take place on this issue in the past 12 months, was so close that one don, Laura Newby, made a 10,000-mile round trip from China to cast her vote.

When the results came through there were cheers from a group of about 100 undergraduates who had gathered in the college to protest.

Even students who were in favour of allowing men into St Hilda’s said they had come out to campaign against the vote because of the “high-handed” manner in which the college authorities were perceived to have handled the episode.